Suzanne Gross Reed

Gross Reed, Suzanne was born January 11, 1933, in Janesville, WI to John W. and Jessica George Gross. Suzanne passed away on Sunday, November 22, 2015 after bravely fighting Alzheimers the last few years. She attended and was graduated from Beloit College with a BA degree. Later she received a degree of MA in Spanish from Wichita State University, and then a Ph.D. (ABD) in Spanish Linguistics from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. She has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Dept. of the Interior) and the Agricultural Research Service (Dept. of Agriculture) in Albuquerque, NM, and for the Forest Service there and in Wisconsin, receiving a top international prize for her creating and writing a conservation film entitled "Patterns in the Wild," now shown on YouTube. For four years, Suzanne was Poet in Residence at St. Norbert College, West DePere, WI, a school to be congratulated for its wisdom in providing for the poet the ideal proportions of associations with the academic community and freedom for writing. For over forty year her poems have been published in "The Beloit Poetry Journal," including a chapter book of her poems, entitled "Terns Bone," in 1965. For nine years, from 1961 1970, her poems were chosen to be published in the "Borestone Mountain Best Poems," her first volume was "Sand Verbena" (University of Notre Dame Press, 1962). In 1967, she married Pianist Paul Reed and moved to Wichita, KS where he taught at WSU. A year later their daughter, Marguerite, was born. She is turning into a successful published novelist. Suzanne was preceded in death by her parents, John W. and Jessica Gross; her older brother, Frank Gross, and his son, John. Survivors include her daughter, Marguerite (married to Phil Moss); granddaughters, Sophia (17) and Madeline (10); several cousins, nephews and nieces, and many friends. A Memorial Reception will be held at Calvary United Methodist Church, in Fellowship Hall (south end), 2525 N. Rock Rd., Wichita, on Saturday, December 5, 2015 from 2:00 4:00 P.M. Downing & Lahey Mortuary East.